I've been haunted by a conversation I had with a constituent a couple of weeks ago. She told me the story of her student loan debt, which, because she can only afford a minimum amount each month, has ballooned into a significantly larger burden now than it was when she completed her education. She trained as a nurse at USM and now works full time in that profession, providing exactly the sort of service that we need here in Maine, the state with the oldest average population in the country. She works full time and extra shifts, lives frugally by any measure, and is now facing the prospect of her daughter needing to go to college in a year or two, with her loans having grown to more than $60,000. How can a parent be expected to help a child in college when she is still coping with loans from her own education? Another person I spoke to today concurred, telling me that her loans (also, it happens, in the nursing profession) are going to continue even into her retirement.

This is simply wrong. There is no other country in the world that finances education like this. While I am not sure that a ready solution to this problem lies at the state level, I'm encouraged by Senator Angus King's proposed measure to reform student loans, providing options including a payback rate based on income, with loans being forgiven after a certain predictable amount of time. This is an encouraging step.

Author

Erik C. Jorgensen represents Maine House District 41 - Part of Portland. This blog represents his own opinions and not those of the Maine Legislature, Maine Democrats, or anyone else. To read more about me, click here